


Waking in the dark

by Lizardbeth



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Amnesia, Amnesiac Loki, Ficlet, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-26
Updated: 2015-01-26
Packaged: 2018-03-09 02:42:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3233249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lizardbeth/pseuds/Lizardbeth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He wakes on Sanctuary, bereft of his memories.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Waking in the dark

**Author's Note:**

> for a Tumblr AU prompt, for courgette96. I didn't quite make it Loki/Thanos, but you can certainly spin it off in that direction at the end. :)

* * *

He opens his eyes to the darkness. Everything hurts; his skin feels stretched and burnt and his bones ache. Twitching his fingers sends bursts of fire up his arm and he moans. 

A deep voice greets him, from his left, "You awaken at last." 

He turns his head to see a large being standing above him. The head and wide mouth spark recognition, but it passes through him, there and gone. Behind him there are rock formations, and beyond that, empty space and distant stars. Nothing looks familiar.

"Where… am I?" he asks. His voice hurts his throat and emerges hoarse. "What… happened?" He lifts his head, and the ache there turns piercing. He struggles upright, pushing up his torso. He sees his hands, pale against the dark stone, and he wiggles his fingers. His hands seem strange, like someone else's, even though they're clearly his own.

Which is when he realizes the dark void above him and the bare stone beneath him are a lot like the inside of his mind. He not only doesn't remember what happened to bring him here - wherever here is - he doesn't remember anything. 

At all. 

He looks up to the stranger. "Who are you? Who am I?" The fear that makes his voice quaver feels wrong, but he can't stop it from rising in his chest. He doesn't know his own name, where he's from, where he is, why his memory is empty. Nothing.

"You don't know me?" the looming being asks curiously.

A bark of a laugh escapes his mouth. "I don't know _me_. Which seems far worse." He lowers his head to his hands, hoping if he squeezes his skull enough maybe he can reactivate his memories. It doesn't seem to work.

The stranger answers, in a rumbling voice of stone falling on stone. "Your name is Loki. I am Thanos." He pauses after the name as if it means something, but Loki's just glad to know his own name. He shapes it with his lips and it feels right, like an old pair of boots.

"Loki. Yes. All right. What happened?" 

Thanos holds out a hand. "I will tell you. Stand, Loki, and take your place."

"My place?" Loki asks, but he grips Thanos' hand. It is with effortless power than Thanos pulls him to his feet. Thanos seems even larger when Loki's standing -- he's taller than Loki and much broader. There's another flicker of familiarity, and Loki figures that means he's stood beside Thanos before. 

"Your place in my family." Thanos moves to the edge of the floating rock and Loki follows. "From this Sanctuary, I will conquer all that you see. All that there is. I will rule it with my daughters." He turns his head and his mouth widens into a grin at Loki. "And my heir. To stand at my side, and command my armies. Is that not what you want, Loki?" Thanos asked. 

It is. He can feel that, in how _warm_ he feels at the words. He feels wanted. He can't ignore that feeling or doubt it, so he smiles and agrees, "Yes, I do." 

"As I thought," Thanos said. "Come, and I will tell you of how the rats of Asgard dropped you to your death, and I saved you." His hand closes on Loki's shoulder in a grip so strong and tight it hurts, but Loki doesn't try to move away. "Remember this, Loki -- I alone understand your strength and your cleverness. You will stand with me, as long as you give your loyalty to me alone."

"Of course," Loki agrees. Thanos saved him, so he deserves Loki's loyalty. It's not as if Loki has much choice, when he doesn't know where he is.

It rankles his pride when Thanos' hand pushes him to the ground, to kneel before him, and Loki's throat tries to close up around the spoken words of obedience, as if something within him resists. 

But Loki kneels and speaks the oath, and afterward, he feels more secure. At least he has a place to be and belong, when he doesn't know himself. Thanos gives him direction when he has none, and a future when he has no past.

The present is enough. 

* * *

end.


End file.
